Expansive Horizons
by MBScavenger1498
Summary: Following the successful live capture of Annie Leonhardt, the Scouting Legion turns its gaze inward, to find the other two shifters among them. But their victory will be short-lived; their enemies are wily and fate is all too cruel. Follows my earlier oneshot Trust, Hopes and the Dashing of Both. Rated T for cursing and gore.


**This fic is a multi-chapter continuation of my earlier work Trust, Hopes and the Dashing of Both. That worked as a one-shot, but I thought there was a further story to be explored beyond the ending, and thus this was born. If you haven't read that yet, you should, if only so things make more sense. If you have, great, I hope you enjoy this!**

Chapter 1

Second and First Contacts

Levi and Annie glared at each other, one sitting forward in a chair and the other on the floor. If Hanji had been there, she might have made a joke about him finally being taller than someone, but thankfully, she was doing experiments with Eren that day. There was enough tension in the room without her there on top of it. They'd been like this for almost fifteen minutes now while he waited for her wounds to repair themselves (the minor ones anyway), and in similar situations over the course of the past week.

"So scum-sucker, have you ever heard the legend of the first Titan?" Annie continued to glare back, though her position against the wall did the opposite of making her imposing. "Well, the story goes that when the world was new and us humans were free, there was only one nameless titan. He could walk and talk like us, but the goddesses had decreed that a lesser being like him shouldn't live with us, He got lonely one day, so he decided to make more of himself." Annie remained impassive, but Levi could tell she was listening; she was looking at him at least.

"He was a good sculptor and at first, the new Titans he'd created were friendly, but as usual, something was fucked over and they started eating people. The Goddesses tried to help humanity, but they couldn't kill the Titans because they hadn't made them. They created the Walls and hurried their chosen people inside. The first Titan was strapped to the top of a mountain and every day, a giant eagle would come and tear the fucker apart. By the next day, he'd be regenerated and the eagle would come again to rip him to shreds."

"Does this analogy have a point, or are you just trying to bore me to death?" Levi adjusted his seat and tilted his head, looking at the wall as though the blonde on the floor didn't have even the minimal portion of his attention. "No, I was just noticing that your regeneration is taking longer than before." Annie's eyes hardened and she looked up. "Yeah, well, arms and legs, who'd have thought?"

But even taking the severity of her injuries into account, Levi had a point. Annie had lost limbs before, when her father had taught her. Never all four like this, but it wasn't an altogether new experience, and they'd never taken longer than a day to come back.

Levi stood, making a conscious effort not to wince at the pressure now on his bandaged ankle. He took a moment to study his torture options: a crowbar, a pair of pliers, a cleaver, a small clamp and a filleting knife. It wasn't exactly an ideal setup, but between him and Hanji, they'd made it work. He'd considered bringing the saw along, but Hanji had warned against it; "too much blood, not enough versatility." Finally, he settled on the crowbar and turned back to his subject. "I'd say you're fit for more punishment, assuming you still won't talk." She glared back, but didn't say anything.

With a quick draw back, the metal instrument hit home, smashing into Annie's skull. For a second, her head lolled back and her vision swam before she managed to snatch back her consciousness. A loud, pained moan escaped her before turning into a soft, throaty chuckle. "Do you really think… that this stupidity is going to make me tell you anything?"

Levi frowned slightly; according to Hanji, not a single word had escaped the girl's lips during the whole first three days of her interrogation. She might have been slipping. Then again, maybe she'd long since slipped. "Just… out of curiosity, did you know them very well?" His grip around the crowbar tightened and once again it came crashing down, this time taking her in the ribs. She groaned, but the smile was back even faster than before. Her eyes were calculating, focused, and wide.

"I figured you would have. When you came after me, I thought the pretty one must have somehow unbroken her back. She must have been _begging_ for it, the way she smelled like you." Levi thought he should have been swinging the crowbar, but he wasn't. Some part of him still held on to the tenuous control he'd forced onto his mind since the 52nd Expedition. "So tell me, did the bird get the worm before she died, or were you too much of an oblivious jackass to notice?"

Finally, in that moment, he stopped caring. The weapon slammed into her again and her labored, mocking chuckles became strangled sounds of pain. A few teeth flew out of her mouth as another blow hit her in the jaw. It felt good, finally taking out his full frustrations, letting his pent up aggression go. Even making good on his threat and cutting her limbs off hadn't felt quite like this.

But before too long, the rush was gone and he stopped mid-swing. Annie's eyes were closed and her whole face was one giant bruise, but a blood-soaked smirk curved her swelling lips. Levi carefully packed up his instruments and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. He barely even registered the salute his soldiers threw him as he walked out; he needed to be alone.

**0O0**

Eren was in his house. He didn't remember how he'd gotten there. It was strange; he could have sworn the place had been destroyed…

But he wasn't in the house; it was smashed beside him under a giant boulder. His mother was trapped under the debris, Hannes was a few steps to her right and a giant lipless titan stood over the scene, eternal smile just as terrifying as the day he'd seen it. "Jeez, this is depressing. First you get stuck here, then the courtroom, and now those stairs. And you wonder why we're ineffectual and uncooperative." Eren whirled and saw himself: significantly shorter and about five years younger, but him just the same. Mikasa stood silently to the side, similarly de-aged. How had he gotten here? He remembered shifting, and feeling stranger than usual. Hanji had told him something about height and that he should try to shift again…

"What's going on?" Considering the circumstances, Eren should have been significantly less calm than he was, but for some reason the strangeness had flowed through his mind like a quiet stream. His mother spoke this time. "It's been several years since we met you, but you only just acknowledged our existence. Really, it's quite depressing being ignored by yourself."

"Why are you…? Wait, am I dreaming again?" A sort of annoyance passed through his mind, but it was more like he'd been told he was feeling it than actually doing so. "Sort of. We're not exactly sure how this works either." Hannes had spoken this time. "But we thought it was time for us to touch base. After all, we have to live with each other."

"So let me get this straight. We met a long time ago, but I've only gotten to know you recently… Are you my Titan?" Hannes' eyes widened and for a second, he seemed at a loss for words. "Well… yes, I suppose that would be a good way of looking at it." Eren frowned. "So it was you who killed all those titans the first time I shifted, and attacked Mikasa when I first tried to lift that boulder."

A disappointed sigh came down the steps of a tunnel and Eren was between Armin and Mikasa, almost two weeks previous. Annie turned a disappointed look on him, eyes hooded, expression impassive. "It's not that simple, you suicidal idiot." Mikasa put a hand on his shoulder, expression tense and restrained. "Like we said, we don't know much more than you, but from what we can tell, we're dependent on you for our actions." Armin spoke this time, a genuine smile sitting awkwardly upon his face. "We're a reflection of your own will and drive. When you tried to lift that boulder, you had not accepted us and fought our presence, so we fought against you. The strong one was just in the crossfire."

Annie still stood at the top of the stairs, smiling slightly as though she'd just been told something moderately pleasing. "But you accepted that we are a part of you, and now we can fight together. It's why we managed to beat the traitor. Now that we are at peace, you can think."

The scene shifted again and they were back next to the house. Eren's frown deepened; this time, his annoyance was far more visceral. "Why do you keep taking me to such depressing places? Why can't we go somewhere happy?" Mikasa walked over, looking much smaller than she'd seemed at that age, shaking her head slightly. "You exist here."

The tunnel again: Annie glared down the stairs, obviously perturbed by his thick-headedness. "We can't take you anywhere; we reflect you. And you choose to dwell on these times, to live your life through them." Mikasa looked him in the eye, her grip tightening on his arm. "If you could just let go of them, you could be free; we could accomplish our goals if you would just forget the past and focus on the future."

Eren shook his head vehemently, mouth set in a frown. "No. If I do that I'll forget the lessons that came from these moments. If I can't learn then my enemies have already won." Annie smiled sadly down at him, the sun setting her hair ablaze. "That sounded almost Armin-like. Maybe you _have_ learned something."

His mother's eyes gazed tiredly up from beneath the ruins of his house and he felt the world around him fading, disappearing from his mind. "You have to go now. We'll see you again soon…"

**0O0**

Eren couldn't pinpoint the exact moment he had stopped dreaming, but when he awoke, it was to the sound of hushed voices. They were familiar, a man and a woman.

"We can't count any of them out. We don't know their motivations and we don't know their endgame; I can't deduce something like this with so little evidence. Hell, even the idea that they're part of the 104th is at best an inference." Hanji's voice lacked its usual enthusiasm. She sounded hesitant, worried even.

"Be that as it may, it's the only lead we have. Have you talked to Arlert?" Commander Irwin was just as calm as usual. But Eren could detect something under the surface, a tension and weariness belied by his stoic tone.

"I tried, but he said he didn't want to jump the gun until he knew more." "He has too little faith in his intelligence. I'll talk to him." Eren frowned at the statement and the conversation ended abruptly. A few footsteps followed and Eren was forced from his mock-sleep by a sharp pinching on his ear. "Ooh, he's pretending to be asleep! He's like a little kid! That's so cute!" Eren shot up in bed, eyes flying open.

"Agh! What the hell, Hanji!" The seemingly bipolar woman was grinning at him from the side of the bed. Someone had moved him to the infirmary. His sudden rising made him dizzy, and he fell back to his pillow as the room swam around him. "Be careful, Jaeger, you had a shifting accident. We had to cut you out of your titan form and bring you here."

Eren frowned as his sense of balance returned, sitting up slowly to avoid further problems. He could have sworn he'd dreamed about something important… right, his titan. In retrospect, the whole thing had been extremely weird. A lot of it didn't make much sense. It had seemed to at the time…

"Eren, is there something on your mind?" He shook his head and looked over at Irwin, clearing his expression as best he could. "No, sir, just tired…" For a moment, he thought about what he should say next; what would they expect him to say? "I'm just a bit frustrated with the test's failure, that's all." He did his best to seem irritated, but he'd never been a very good actor. He quickly decided to change the subject.

"Where are the others?" The commander sent Hanji a quick glance before turning back to Eren. "The Legion is undergoing practice exercises… How much of our conversation did you hear?" "Just the last bit sir. I'm assuming you were talking about the Armored and Colossal Titans."

The blonde commander took a moment before nodding. "Based on the identity of the Female Type, we've assumed that the other two infiltrated the same way. Do you have any thoughts?" Eren's blood boiled, but he put his slowly blossoming self-control to good use and schooled his features into something resembling calm. The idea that there were two more traitors among his friends was vinegar poured on his already lobotomized trust. "No sir, none that I can think of. Like you said, Armin is a better person to talk to about things like this."

Irwin nodded, face just as impassive as ever. "I'll take that under consideration. Get some sleep Eren; you have more tests tomorrow." He turned and walked brusquely out of the door. Hanji stayed where she was, only turning to pull up a chair. "So, Eren, do you have any recollection of what happened?" He shook his head; focus immediately upon his somewhat insane superior. She explained briefly how his Titan form had deteriorated over the course of multiple shifts in rapid succession. She also explained how he'd been harder to remove every time. His final transformation had been a complete failure, barely ten meters and incomplete. "Regardless of all that, you weren't able to use the hardening ability. Until we can think of another way to close the gate, it would seem that Wall Maria will be staying open. On the bright side, we're fairly certain that your endurance can be increased through training." Eren frowned, still bothered by something. "How long was I out after the third test?" Hanji's smile fell a bit, but it was still there. "A little more than a day. Considering the most often we've seen a person change successfully is twice in a day, I think we should dial back on the tests and keep that as a maximum."

Eren nodded and lay back down. Just the exercise of thinking hard was tiring him out. _'I wonder if my healing abilities are affected by how tired I am… Eh, not important right now. Sleep.'_ "Hey, Eren. Do you want me to close the curtains?" He frowned, eyes drooping shut. "No, leave 'em open. It's nice." And he drifted back into a dreamless slumber. It was the last good rest he'd be getting for some time.


End file.
